The Kaiko¯ura Job: A retelling of rail rebuild

Retired civil engineer Rob Merrifield has written a new book, The Kaiko¯ ura Job, telling the story of the reconstruction of the Main North Line following the magnitude7.8 earthquake on November 14, 2016. Merrifield is a member of the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society, whose largest work to date has been the booklet Beyond Dashwood, published by the society in 1990. Below is an excerpt from The Kaiko¯ura Job.

‘‘May 14 was noted as the end of the first six months since the original earthquake. A lot had been achieved in that time. Some 40 per cent of all work sites (3300 for road and rail) were fully repaired by then. Work was proceeding night and day. As autumn changed into winter access to Kaiko¯ ura became harder. The only route available outside of the shorter daylight hours was Route 70 via Waiau.

Snow and ice on it made night driving more hazardous. Working conditions could be unpleasant. With so many sites being on the exposed narrow coastal fringe under high, steep slopes, even sunny days could feel cold when work sites were shaded for much of the day.

A record was set on May 26 when in one day over 7000 cubic metres of debris was removed from one slip, 300 metres high, in the Ohau Point area.

At that time, five of the 10 largest slips from near Mangamaunu to that at Half Moon Bay, had been fully cleared.

An estimate was that 70 per cent of the slip material to be removed had been stockpiled out of the way or re-used. Some 500,000 cubic metres of material was removed from this area before work was completed.

Crews were working from south and north towards the ‘‘big ones’’ at Ohau Point ... Earthworks at the large slips north of Mangamaunu were ready for track laying in June 2017. Good progress was being made with clearing the other big slips north of here.’’

*Purchase ‘The Kaiko¯ ura Job’ at railsoc.org.nz.

SUPPLIED The 2016 Kaiko¯ ura earthquake destroyed road and rail along the South Island’s east coast.